1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a machine for harvesting sugar cane stems.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In order to harvest sugar cane stems it is necessary first to cut them at the base and then feed them into a machine in which the stems are cut up into a number of small sections approximately 30 cm in length, to proceed then to a sorting process designed to eliminate bits of white ends and pieces of cut up leaves and to evacuate the sections thus cut and sorted to a loading mechanism. Numerous automatic machines exist which effect these operations but their results are not satisfactory.
Firstly, the tools for cutting the bases of the stems are not satisfactory; their working height above the ground is regulated by a control system which is actuated by the driver who needs to pay great attention and display much skill not to cut too high and to avoid digging the cutter into the ground because of unevenness in the terrain. Secondly, when the driver tries to cut as low as possible he is unable to avoid stones or mounds of earth projecting into the machine. Thirdly, the cutting tools used to slice up the stems make angled cuts exposing too great an area to the air which causes inversion of the sucrose and fourthly, the sorting means used are very lengthy, bulky and often inefficient which results in very heavy and expensive machines.